Pounding the Pavement



This picture is funny, because the Shar pei is wearing a hat and
shoes... dogs don't wear hats or shoes.  That's crazy.  And
even if he did wear shoes, why would he just have them on his
back feet.  This picture is silly.



I went running today.  It was the first time in several months.  You see, last week I caught a profile view of myself in the mirror, and what I saw was not pretty.  When I look healthy, the scars on my stomach (from my younger days when I was in Tijuana fight club) look like a smiley face.  If you have seen it, you will know it is uncanny.  However, in my more recent bloated days, my stomach has resembled less of a smiley face, and more of that of a shar pei's face, lots of folds over the eyes and mouth.

So alas, it took me a week to psych myself up but am back pounding the pavement with my size 15, Adidas. 

After about .5 miles I had to stop and walk.  My whole body was hurting.  Even my teeth.  That is the kind of shape I am in right now.  The moment I physically exert myself, my whole body fights it, including my teeth.  I was eventually able to compromise with my body, by promising that I would feed it a parfait made with bacon, sour cream and cheese when it got me home.  I didn't really eat that.. that's gross.

It is crazy to think a year ago I was getting ready to run the Ascent.  Once I won the Ascent, I stopped running almost all together.  I thought to myself, I want to run this again next year, but I did not have the resolve to train again for it.  I took my chiseled form, and god like physique for granted.  A year later, its like VH1's behind the music..."and one day, his dog didn't even recognize his bloated, washed up master... he had hit rock bottom". 

Thus begins the comeback tour...  there is some hidden motivation.  I was recently speaking with an old friend.  She suggested that we do a 5K to raise a bit more money for the adoption.  Nothing is in the works yet, but if it is something you would be interested in participating in or helping out with, please let me know. 

Will I Be That Parent?

Will I be that parent that blames their child's teacher, because they got a C on the spelling test for spelling apple with a "8"? 

Will, I be that parent that yells at the coach for not playing my son, even though he spends most of the game sticking his fingers in his shin guards and than smelling his hand? 

Will I be that parent that refuses to admit that my child stole money from his friend's house, even when I am out to dinner at Ruth Chris Steak house, because that seven year old son of ours wanted to do something nice for us and take us out to dinner?

I worry that I will be that parent, in fact, I am almost certain that I will be that parent.

Why?  You ask.

Well, the other day, my favorite dog, Lucy got into the bathroom trash and tore up and spread out feminine hygiene products all over the bathroom.

Did I get mad at her?

No, of course not.

No, instead, I got mad at my wife.

Why?

Because once a month she "has" to have need for feminine hygiene products, even though she knows this tempts Lucy to get in the trash.

I am a terrible person for these thoughts.... I understand this.

However, let it be known, that I will go to bat for my kids.  Perhaps literally, because I will be the first to charge the mound when my child is hit by a wild pitch in little league, and I will not think twice about squaring up to that fourth grade pitcher. 

Okay, that might be an exaggeration, but I will figuratively fight for our children.

I have been feeling like the blind hair dresser lately...

Misty left me this morning.  She'll be back on Wednesday.  She is on a road trip to Seattle and flying back on Wednesday.  I am a little at a loss for what to do with myself.  It has only been five hours and I am already beginning to feel the affects of starvation creeping in.  It is times like these when I realize how lost I am without her.  I was able to find my toothbrush this morning, but what I thought to be tooth paste, was in fact Ben Gay.  My teeth still feel very cold.  I am thinking about sending the dogs out to live with a friend, they keep looking at me in hopes that I will feed them but I don't know where there food is.  I used to look at the people that lined up for the soup kitchen and think 'there, but by the grace of God go I', now I know this was a misnomer... now I know the truth, 'there but by the grace of Misty, go I'.  My clothes are already badly stained and smell of stale urine, yet they were clean just five hours ago.  What will become of me.  I have been trying to go outside and pan handle, but I cannot for the life of me find out where Misty keeps the markers and jagged scraps of cardboard. 

Certainly, I can overcome this adversity. There have been countless others before me that have been able to rise above their situations.  Take the lady who cut my hair yesterday for example.  I am pretty sure she was legally blind.  I bet she heard all her life "no one is going to get their hair cut by you, if they see you have a service dog", "how are you going to cut hair, if you have no depth perception".  Well, she proved them all wrong.  Not only did she cut my hair, she did a great job... cause I look damn good  right now....  I may be exaggerating, but I am not making it up, she really did have some vision impairment.  She had really thick glasses, glasses as thick as the bottom of a coke bottle.  I thought eye glass technology had advanced a little bit in the last twenty years, so that they didn't need to make them that thick any more, but I guess that isn't the case.

I have been feeling like the blind hair dresser lately.  We have $8000 raised and almost three times that left to go.  It feels insurmountable at times.  But than I am reminded of all of the people who have donated so far, and I cannot help but to have faith that we will get there.  Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday... hopefully in the next twelve months.     

Me and Antoni

I recently saw a program on the great Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi.  His architecture was fun, innovative, and unlike any other before or after him.  What stuck out the most to me was that his last project, his paramount, was a cathedral located in Barcelona called Sangrada Familia.  What was so amazing was that he knew he would be long dead before the cathedral was finished.  Gaudi died in 1926. 86 years later they are still working on it!  It is estimated that the cathedral will still not be finished for another 10 to 20 years. 

 

I bring all this up because I can relate to Gaudi.  I guess there are a number of comparisons to be made.  We are both innovative geniuses, not fully understood or fully appreciated in our own time.  Our critics regard us as being baroque and excessively imaginative.  And don't get me started on how the Noucentisme feel about our independent works.  We also both have beards. 

Of  all these similarities, the one that I can most closely relate to, goes back to the Sangrada Familia, because lately I have been feeling like my list of home projects will not be finished until decades after my death.  At this rate, I don't think I will be done grouting the tiles until at least 2050.  And that is just the beginning of the list.  Yes, I find solace thinking about my kindred spirit.  I imagine him as he tried to enjoy his morning cup of coffee, while Mrs Guadi would badger... "when will you finish the columns?", "are you almost done with the nave?"  "I thought the alter was going to be bigger" "will this be finished before my mother gets in town?", "how come the spires aren't finished yet?"  "I should have married that Frank Wright, he could at least finish a building in his lifetime" "When are you going to finish grouting?"  What Mrs Gaudi and Mrs. Berry don't understand is that genius, like a good souffle, take time.  Sure a lesser craftsman could finish my projects in a couple weekends, but than the projects wouldn't share the art and soul that mine do.

All kidding aside, there is something so romantic about investing in something that will be around long after you are buried in the ground.  Yes, this is where I am going to throw a soft pitch, and ask you to join my Amway team... just kidding.  I hate Amway.  But seriously, though I have never been to Barcelona, I have heard that you can hardly turn a corner without seeing some of Guadi's distinctive architecture.  And better yet, to leave behind an unfinished work, like the Sangrada Familia, an edificethat people for centuries later, will stop and look at in awe.

This is why I believe so strongly in adoption.  It is not just an investment in one orphaned kid.  It is an investment in that child, and the generations that will follow him or her.  We are given the opportunity to alter the path of an individuals life, to give them a fighting chance to leave their own mark on the world.  We can't be saviors, but we can offer unconditional love, support and encouragement that will allow the children in our lives to be everything that they were uniquely created to be.

And lastly there is a little +1 icon at the bottom of this blog.  I have no idea what it does, but I beg that you click on it.  I firmly believe that by doing so, your children will less likely be bullied in their schools... and don't you want that for them?  Don't you... just click it.